First of all the location Du Nord Craft Spirits was really interesting. If you haven’t been there and enjoy a fun cocktail or two I’d highly recommend checking it out. I don’t drink but I had a really tasty mocktail called the St. Paul No. 2, caffeinated and spicy, it was a delight. Secondly, this reminded me of the experimental opera I reviewed last week, though way more accessible. In the program they label the show non-traditional theatre, and that seems like an accurate description. It’s theatre but it is also art, not that theatre isn’t art in general, it is, but this is art as in creating something with your hands and materials art. The show itself is hard to explain and the more I try to explain it, perhaps the less enjoyable it would be. A lot of the pleasure I got from it was not knowing what to expect or what would happen next. I would encourage anyone who is interested in art, particularly non-traditional art, as well as non traditional theatre, to check this out.

Let me set the stage a little without giving too much away. When we arrived for the show we were given tools (see photo above), programs, and latex gloves, it was very important that you get the right size gloves, don’t lose them they are very important later. Once the show starts the three performers who created the show with the Director Eric Larson come and ask for the tools that were distributed beforehand one by one. They then very assertively describe the tools and what they are used for. And… I have to just stop there, to describe it is to rob it of its wonder. The first act is fun, but there is also an informative side in the form of audio sampled from YouTube videos about art conservation and restoration. It’s this information combined with what transpires in the second act that raises some thought provoking question and discussion points. Don’t go to this show alone, you are going to want someone to discuss this show with afterward.

So what questions does it raise, what topics does it encourage discussion of? Well to my mind there isn’t a definitive answer to that. The creators may have a concept they want you to go away thinking about, but it isn’t explicit and I don’t think it really matters, I think what is important is that it gets you thinking and discussing and exploring ideas. For my wife and I, it raised questions about whether conservation should happen or if we should consider art work to age and change, just as it’s creators do as they age. The tools we use to create and restore, do they restore things or do they change them in different ways? We see in our society this desire to hold back time to maintain things as they are even going so far as to alter ourselves with surgeries to try and stay as we were. But all you have to do is look at Jennifer Jason Leigh’s face to see that when we try and restore things to how they were, we actually alter them into something different, frequently not something better either. Maybe those thoughts were already swirling around in my head because of a character in a play I saw the night before and not what the creators intended. But, I don’t think that matters, I think the important thing is not what the answers are but what questions it raises, and the thought that goes into exploring those questions.

Tweezer Burn runs just two more shows Sat Feb 29th @ 8:00 PM and Sun March 1 at 2:00 PM. For tickets and more information go to https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4474865